Restoring files after a reformat? Heeelp..

I'm not sure if this is the right place for it, but I've reformatted my PC completely and obviously lost a few of my files, and I'm curious if there was a way of getting them back despite the reformat?
I didn't think it was possible to restore the file after the reformat, but I've been told it is, and it's vital that I get this file back.

The chances of recovering files from a reformatted hard drive diminish with continued use of the drive. If available, the recovery should be performed in another computer with this drive attached (slave or usb) or with a different hard drive configured as the master.

I have been stumbling around this site trying to collect information about disaster recovery tools. Most recently found for data recovery (diydatarecovery). Some of my other recent post have links on related topics. Use advance search in the section to enter userid as the criteria. Userid kraft has also posted this type of info.

I have not found any freeware that provides the ability to recover files buried under the re-format. Software that I used in the past, does not advertise that its current product has this capability http://www.stompsoft.com/recoverlostdata.html

If the program executes from CD and your needs are small, a stick memory (usb flash drives) can be used for the recovery.